What DID She Say to Obama?

Comments

Got a chuckle from your minimally animated Ariz. Gov. Brewer-meets-and-greets Pres. Obama parody. Thanks for the fly-on-the-wall inside scoop. For months now the main-stream-media has been totally mum on this perplexing rendezvous on the tarmac.

I especially liked your Jan Brewer’s verging-on-disembodied pink-garbed forearm repeatedly getting up in the Prez’s morphing mug, while he just keeps a seemingly unflappable, positive demeanor.

I swear Brewer, of late, must have been hanging w/ those two imbecilic doofuses, Bevis & Butthead, w/ that inane giggle of hers. Just sayin’.

Frankly, I’ve surmised Barack was merely pointing out to Brewer that she had a verdant chunk of broccoli wedged betwixt her upper cuspids, and further reminding her that it was likely picked by local Arizona-based undocumented Mexican-born farm laborers, who were working seasonally at below minimum wage, under deplorable conditions, but who nonetheless paid their fair share of income taxes, contributing to the net State tax base.

Clearly the Governor was not pleased w/ Mr. Obama’s ‘politicized’ observation, and proceeded to admonish him in no uncertain terms, like a raging harpy on steroids….. right forearm flailing.

Obama, in a clearly conciliatory gesture, politely offered her a strand of mint flavored dental floss, to which she bruskly responded, “You can put that damn dental floss where the Arizona sun don’t shine, Mr. President.”

To whit, Obama, the consummate gentleman and canny diplomat, a wry smile punctuating his beaming visage, totally unflustered, replies, “Madame Governor, w/ all due respect, I could never argue w/ a woman who’s eating her veggies…… even if she and her short-sighted minions are a bunch of xenophobic bigots.”

I love yours Alex. Hilarious! It’s great not to take her too seriously, but of course if you are Mexican in the Kingdom of Arpaio you are seriously screwed. Let’s all keep going at this. Every little schtick helps. Thanks!

Pleased that you enjoyed my embedded-broccoli angle on the now infamous Pres. Obama/ Arizona Gov. Brewer tête-à-tête on the tarmac.

Point well taken regarding the oppressive, bordering-on-scary state of affairs for Hispanics, particularly Mexicans (documented, or otherwise), currently living in “The Kingdom of Arpaio”, or perhaps more aptly described, ‘The Fiefdom of Arpaio’ *. Frankly, no laughing matter.

Yet, IMHO, unrelenting, focused political satire is one of the most powerful and effective weapons in the fight for human rights, and fair, and civil treatment for all. And thankfully you, Steve, are on the vanguard of this admirable enterprise.

Arizona Sheriff Arpaio has laid down his skewed, prejudiced, majorly punitive brand of arcane wild-west justice, as he alone deems fitting for his ‘borderline’, fringe sector of the State, like some latter-day, looney vigilante lawmaker of yesteryear. Arpaio appears to shoot first and then ask questions later. A double threat….. prepared to shoot from both his ever-ready sidearm, and his flapping yap.

Thankfully, in recent months, he has been duly sanctioned by higher authorities. Yet sadly, once an inveterate hater, always an inveterate hater.

Clearly, the crusty old ‘enforcer’ isn’t riding tranquilly off into the golden sunset any time soon, despite being temporarily handcuffed by recent official admonitions and strictures.

Between the likes of high-profile immigrant bashers Gov. Brewer and her rabid coterie of like-minded GOP sycophants, and Sheriff Arpaio and his legion of border-patrolling goons, indeed, Mexicans of all stripes living in southern Arizona are, as you matter-of-factly pointed out Steve, “seriously screwed”.

As the political race for the presidency and the end-run for potential supremacy of both houses of Congress heats up, it appears that the issue of the flagging, stalled-out economy, the piling national debt, and the dearth of jobs (“It’s the economy stupid!) will be the number one focus of the 2012 campaign from both sides of the partisan political divide.

The pressing issue of fair and viable federal immigration reform will predictably be kicked even further down the Beltway. Both presidential hopefuls , Romney and Obama, may opt to put the immigration issue on the political back-burner, perhaps at their peril, in the longer view.

The burgeoning Latino electorate in the U.S. could be a force to be reckoned with, and will likely play a more crucial role in the results of our general elections, going forward. Traditionally a Democratic-leaning demographic, today it’s not that clear-cut as to what direction Latino-Americans’ political leanings truly skew. Older, former Cuban-American emigres, many who sought refuge decades ago in Florida, tend to be an anomaly of sorts, historically skewing more toward the GOP when it comes to their individual voting preferences.. But I digress.

Just some food for thought; all prompted by your very cool Brewer/ Obama parody, Steve. Thanks!

*This Arpaio guy is a regular Sheriff of Notingham, ( Nuttingham?), run amok.

FYI . . .

Steve Brodner feels he is a newcomer to illustration but that's because he has a really bad memory. Much of his career is worth remembering in any case. Most of it has been about a guy getting to absolutely live his dream; making pictures that make stabs at telling the truth in print about things he feels are important. He is still at it, now moving across platforms, believing, with some justification, that we are all content providers and can now see our ideas shape and get shaped by all manner of media. This site is dedicated to that. And above all, to the best of our imperfect faculties, to telling the truth.

Caricature is…

Caricature, which is a subcategory of illustration, is about finding the narrative elements within a portrait and making them clear as tools in making literal and figurative points. When done for publication, it is not merely about making big things bigger and small things smaller. It is storytelling. This involves knowledge about what is under the surface of a face and teasing it to the top. Caricature is not the destination. It is the journey. It's the bike you ride.